  
Government awards nearly $1 billion in HIV/AIDS grants
Last Updated: 2001-04-10 17:49:53 EDT (Reuters Health)
WESTPORT, CT (Reuters Health) - The US government today announced the release of more than $845.7 million in grants to help poor and uninsured HIV and AIDS patients obtain primary care, support services and medications.
The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is making the fiscal 2001 grants under Title II of the Ryan White CARE Act, which makes funding available to states and territories based on the estimated number of people living with AIDS.
The grants include $267 million in "base awards" to the 50 states, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Virgin Islands. Another $571.3 million is earmarked to help state-run AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAP) buy medications for people living with AIDS/HIV. And a total of $7 million was awarded as part of an HHS partnership with the Congressional Black Caucus.
HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson, who announced the awards today, noted that federal funding for AIDS medications has risen dramatically--to $571 million this year from $56 million in 1996. He said that the increase "underscores the fact that new drug treatments have vastly improved individuals' lives."
The government said that it has awarded $4.1 billion in Title II grants, including $2.1 billion in ADAP funding, since the Ryan White Act was first funded in fiscal year 1991.
-Westport Newsroom 203 319 2700
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